+15)
With everyone stuck at home, their only thrill was endlessly scrolling through their phones, ready to pounce on the next big drama.
So when Tabitha became the internet’s favorite punching bag, the hate rolled in like a tidal wave.
She was stunned–her little online rant, just spitting some truth, had unleashed a firestorm of shade.
‘What’s happened to free speech around here?‘ she thought, her blood boiling. ‘I post one cute vacation selfie, and Suddenly I’m public enemy number one? Just ‘cause there’s some virus going around back home doesn’t mean I’ve gotta mope around like the world’s ending.
And seriously, who cares if I don’t drink plain boiled water or scarf down instant ramen?
‘That processed crap’s never touched my lips, and it never will.‘
She thought these keyboard warriors were just salty because she had money, and she wasn’t about to apologize for it.
In the original story, Stan had whisked Tabitha out of the country before the virus turned everything to chaos.
Even when the outbreak went global, Astaria was no paradise, and with flights canceled, they were stranded abroad. Tabitha got sick but stayed put,
battling the virus overseas.
Meanwhile, they dove headfirst into their sappy, made–for–Hallmark saga of love and loss–total tearjerker bait. But Tabitha, the heroine? No way was
she biting the dust. That’s not how these stories play out.
Word eventually reached Stan about a genius professor who’d cooked up a suppressant drug that could keep the virus in check.
Tragically, the professor got infected with the virus during his experiments and went feral, only to be taken out after attacking others.
Stan teamed up with Harrison, and the two pulled off a high–stakes heist to snag the world’s only vial of the drug. It worked–Tabitha was saved, cheating
death until a proper cure came along.
But here’s the gut–punch: that vial was supposed to go to the International Medical Alliance for research. If they’d replicated it, thousands—maybe millions–could’ve held on until the cure was ready.
Instead, Stan and Harrison blew humanity’s last shot at hope to save Tabitha.
Sure, she lived, and their love story got its swoony, happily–ever–after glow. But the cost? Countless lives snuffed out because of their selfish choice.
Geneva just couldn’t wrap her head around why anyone would cheer for this self–obsessed, rose–tinted romance.
Stan’s parents and Tabitha, all got hit with the zombie virus. When the chips were down, Stan made a move that had people’s jaws on the floor: he slid the only dose of suppressant to Tabitha, leaving his mom and dad to fend for themselves. No one could imagine the gut–punch his parents felt, watching their own kid pick his girl over them.
This time around, things had shifted. Their hometown, Astaria, was clawing its way back from hell. But one thing stayed constant: Stan whisked Tabitha back to Astaría, safe as houses, while his infected parents were left to waste away overseas.
Talk about a love so epic it steamrolled the people who raised him.
Tabitha, though? She didn’t give two hoots about the internet ripping her to shreds.
She had a gift for brushing off the hate, leaning hard into her “love trumps everything” schtick.
She flooded social media with gooey posts about her and Stan, swooning over how he gave her the only plane ticket out of the infected zone. [How’d l land a guy this perfect?] she’d caption, slapping on a dozen heart emojis.
Huge misstep. The internet pounced, and they weren’t playing nice.
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Chapter 12
[Are you for real? His parents are turning into walkers, and he blows his one ticket on his girlfriend? If I were his mom, I’d haunt his ass.]
65%
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[Hang on, isn’t the bigger deal that she knew she was infected, used eye drops to fake being okay, and boarded a plane? How many people got screwed because of her?]
The backlash went nuclear. Before long, the death toll tied to Tabitha’s stunt hit the feeds, and the numbers were straight–up nauseating.
The internet slapped her with nicknames like “Virus Vixen” and “Patient Zero.” Her bid to play the lovesick damsel crashed and burned.
One comment tore into her: [You trashed how many lives and still have the balls to parade your love story? Where’s your damn shame?]
Selfish doesn’t even scratch the surface. You’ve set a new low for humanity.]
[Your little romance is cute, but our lives aren’t cheap. You basically overnighted the virus across the planet. Take a bow, queen of plague.]
Tabitha was absolutely gutted, her heart twisted in knots.
“Why are these people so damn vicious?‘ she raged inwardly. ‘Here I am, pouring out my soul about me and Stan’s once–in–a–lifetime love, and they’re obsessing over my stupid eye drops?
Or how Stan handed me his plane ticket instead of his folks?
To her, it was a no–brainer: she was Stan’s soulmate, his forever girl. That ticket? It belonged in her hands, no question.
And those eye drops weren’t just some random thing–she needed them to get back home and get fixed up. It was life–or–death, plain and simple.
“What’s wrong with these people? Do they seriously want me to just keel over out here?‘ she seethed, her temper flaring. ‘How can anyone be this freaking cold?‘
In her mind, the trolls were just eaten up with jealousy over her pure, unshakable bond with Stan. No matter what she posted, they’d twist it into something vile.
When the storm of the disaster finally blew over, the Institute tossed Geneva a well–earned vacation to kick back and recharge.
That’s when she got wind of the trainwreck Tabitha had unleashed online.
Geneva hadn’t even lifted a finger, and Tabitha was already imploding, practically handing herself a one–way ticket to rock bottom.
Back home, life roared back to normal like the crisis was just a bad dream. Shops flung open their doors, streets buzzed with chatter, and folks slipped back into their daily grind.
Tabitha, now back to her old self, threw her arms around Stan when he jetted in from overseas, their little family patched up tight.
But something wasn’t right. Tabitha kept catching chilly glares from Stan’s parents, the Wheelers. The spark in their eyes had dimmed, replaced with something that made her stomach twist.
In Astaría, they love hitting guys with this old–school gut–punch: if your wife and your parents were sinking fast, who’d you fish out?
Stan didn’t even flinch. “Parents? Nah, my heart’s with my true love.”
Tabitha, his damsel in distress, melted, her heart doing backflips. But his folks? They’d poured their souls into raising him, banking on him to hold them up when their hair turned gray.
They weren’t even close to old, and he’d already ditched them. That kind of knife in the back cuts deep.
No parent just shrugged off that kind of hurt. But turned on their own flesh and blood? That was a hard no.
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Chapter 12
So, they funneled all their resentment straight at Tabitha.
65%
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Stan’s father Emerson kept it mellow–he wasn’t about to throw hands with his son’s girl. His mother Kyla, though? She was a different beast.
When Stan was in the room, she’d pile on the sugar, cooing, “You holdin‘ up okay, sweetie?” But the second he stepped out, her mask dropped, and the snarky digs came flying.
Tabitha, spoiled rotten and never one to eat crow, couldn’t deal with the shade. Every time Kyla slung a barb, Tabitha would bolt to Stan, tears streaking her face, begging him to have her back.
At first, Stan was her hero, drying her eyes and swearing he’d fix it. But when she started running to him day after day with the same old drama, he hit his limit.
To him, his mom was practically a saint–Tabitha was just blowing tiny slights way out of proportion.
Back in the day, Stan would’ve thrown down for her, no hesitation.
Now, even when she poured her heart out about his mom’s relentless sniping, he just gave her a blank stare, like she was speaking another language.
Tabitha’s heart twisted in her chest. ‘Is this even love anymore?‘ she thought. ‘This is the guy who handed me his only plane ticket when the world was falling apart. And now he’s choosing his toxic mom over me?‘
Done with it all, Tabitha snatched up their kid, Barclay, and peeled out to her parents‘ place at the Motley family’s.
She was through playing nice. Stan could crawl back on his knees with an apology, or she wasn’t setting foot in his house again. No way, no how.
Her bestie, Vera, sniffed out Tabitha’s funk from a mile away. So, she swooped in, dragging Tabitha out for some serious retail therapy.
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